Crowley appointed Gardner as an honorary member of the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO), a Tantric sex magic order once led by Crowley, and gave Gardner permission to run an OTO lodge.
Gardner had to keep his Witchcraft activities discreet because it was still illegal in England.
He camouflaged his book of shadows within a novel, High Magic’s Aid, which he published in 1949 under the pen name Scire.
The novel revolves around the worship of “the old gods,” but only mentions Janicot by name.
The Goddess had not yet become a prominent figure in Gardner’s Craft—though he claimed his coven worshiped the Goddess under the names Airdia or Areda.
The anti-witchcraft law was abolished in 1951. Gardner then separated from the New Forest coven and formed his own.
He got involved with Williamson’s Museum of Witchcraft in Castletown on the Isle of Man, helping to open it and serving as its “resident Witch” for a while.
In 1952, he purchased the museum buildings and display cases from Williamson and ran his own museum.
In 1953, Gardner initiated Doreen Valiente into his coven.
Valiente significantly revised his book of shadows, removing most of the Crowley content due to his “bad reputation” and placing more focus on the Goddess.
From 1954 to 1957, Gardner and Valiente worked together on writing both ritual and non-ritual material, creating a body of work that became the foundation for what is now known as the Gardnerian tradition.
Gardner’s first nonfiction book on the Craft, Witchcraft Today, was released in 1954.
It supports anthropologist Margaret Murray’s now discredited theory that modern Witchcraft is a surviving fragment of an organized Pagan religion from the witch-hunt era.
Murray wrote the introduction for Gardner’s book.
The immediate success of Witchcraft Today led to the formation of new covens across England and propelled Gardner into the public eye.
He made numerous media appearances, earning the nickname “Britain’s Chief Witch” from the press.
He enjoyed the media attention, which put him in the odd position of initiating people into a “secret” tradition that was widely publicized.
The publicity, much of it negative, caused a split in his coven in 1957, with Valiente and others parting ways.
In 1959, Gardner published his final book, The Meaning of Witchcraft.
